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Liverpool lost far too many duels for Arne Slot‘s liking in the first half, but they flipped the game on its head to walk away from Portman Road with a deserved three points.
“I didn’t see them fight for it in the first half – we lost almost every long ball, every duel to both sides,” pretty damning words from the head coach, right?
Well if we look at the numbers with the help of FotMob, we can see the Reds lost the duel battle in the opening half 31 to 22 – the Reds winning just 36 percent of those on the ground.
They were slightly ahead in the air, winning 57 percent of the time against the Tractor Boys, who used their aggressiveness and 1v1 system to disrupt Slot’s men.
At the break Liverpool had zero shots on target and the three shots they did manage were from outside the box and in no way troubled the goalkeeper.
“First thing I said [during the break] was we don’t have to speak about tactics if we lose so many duels, and that’s what we did,” Slot explained.
So, how did it change into a 2-0 victory?
Quansah – out, Konate – in
“That’s not that Jarell lost every duel – many of us lost too many duels – but I think we needed Ibou Konate to win these long balls in the air from the No. 9,” Slot said.
It felt cruel to see Jarell Quansah withdrawn at half-time, but Slot wanted more dominance from the back and the youngster had won half of his eight duels.
Konate, in the same amount of game time, would finish with four duels won from his five contested and operated with 93 percent accuracy on the ball; Quansah had an accuracy of 86 percent.
The Frenchman offered a more physical presence and the team as a whole improved their duel rate, winning the second half 24-20.
That was the first battle, winning the ball at the coalface.
Exploiting the space
“Second half, we won more duels, we won more second balls and we played more balls in behind,” Slot assessed.
With Liverpool now winning their duels and the second balls, they could lift their heads and play their team-mates into space, utilising balls in behind to unlock Ipswich‘s 1v1 system.
Trent Alexander-Arnold came to life, moving more into an inverted role, and the midfielders also had time and space to find the forwards.
From zero shots on target in the first half, in the next 45 minutes they went on to score two from five on target, create six big chances and have 15 shots in total – all with an xG of 2.61.
Ipswich, conversely, managed just one on target, leaving Slot to say, “You could see how good and how well we could play in ball possession.”
Ipswich deserve plaudits, but Slot showed he’s willing to do what it takes to turn it around and that this squad has plenty of potential once they are all up to speed and on the same page.
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